ACTRESS, REALITY TELEVISION STAR, TELEVISION PRODUCER, AND LGBT ADVOCATE

"More of us are living visibly and pursuing our dreams visibly, so people can say, 'Oh yeah, I know someone who is trans.' Whenpeople have points of reference that are humanizing, thatdemystifies difference."(TIME, Vol. 183, No. 22 | June 9, 2014)

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KEY DATES FOR LGBT EQUALITY

George Hodgman (1959-2019)

"Every week or so, a gay kid somewhere jumps off a bridge or slashes his wrists. I am told that a boy near here hanged himself because his father could not accept who he was. On television, I listen to the things they say, the right-wingers, and fundamentalists, and all the people who consolidate their power by hurting other people. I want to cover up the ears of kids and say, 'Do not take it in.' I took it in. I really did. I heard everything that people in the world around me said about who I was. It hurt me, but I thought I had no right to say anything because I was wrong. I didn't know what silence would cost, how it would change my life. It takes a long time to outrun the things that the world drills into you." (Bettyville: A Memoir, p. 229)